Mischief Managed
by ReAwaken
Summary: Eira has everything anyone could ever want. Except what she really wants. Yes, freedom is part of it. But it's so much more than that. However, her methods seem more like madness, and her mother has had enough. Banished to Asgard in the guise of a student, Eira's lips are sealed. But that doesn't mean she has to like it...LokiXEira shenanigans and fluff to ensue!


**I know I am going to regret this but...I couldn't help myself. Too many ideas splitting my mind in attempts to escape. So here's another fanfic that I have apprehensions about actually finishing. Believe me, my good readers, I want to. And I will try. I just can't guarantee and that's the sad part. **

**But enough of my griping. You're here to read a story. This particular story is about my main character Eira, and her many adventures in Asgard with two particular princes that I'm sure you're all more than aptly acquainted with. It will be EiraxLoki eventually, just as a heads up. Anyway, I hope this will be clever enough for you all. I feel that I will suffer the wrath of Loki should I fail...and I certainly don't want that.**

**So buckle up, because we're going to see what happens when two mischievous minds collide and what kind of shenanigans they can get up to...**

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"EIRA!"

Eira skidded to a stop before backtracking and heading down the hall she had just passed. Her footsteps were hurried, padding delicately but not frantically down the marbled passage. Her mother's call echoed after her, clinging to the embossed walls of silver and shuddering against every ancient artifact that she passed. Eira ignored it.

Instead, she danced around servants in the kitchen. She slid under a man carrying a platter, barely avoiding the woman following with a pitcher. She hopped over a small workbench, upsetting a gaggle of young girls who were kneading bread. She hardly huffed an apology before she was striding confidently towards the door. Her mother's voice sounded again, this time accompanied by a cacophony of pounding footsteps. Valhalla forbid that the woman would come after her herself.

It was too late though. Eira smirked wildly as her eyes were accosted by teeming Vanaheim sunlight. She nearly skipped in her glee, daring to glance behind her as she heard the noise of a following party clamoring by the door. She focused again, slipping around the side of the palace. Her boot clad feet met glossed over stone and she recognized the sound of trickling water. Her smirk widened. Time to disappear.

The gardens were always welcoming. Even if you were running from an enraged mother with a group of guardians bearing down on you or if it was a balmy midnight in summer, the gardens did not judge. They changed as was demanded of them, weather forever rearranging petals and sprinkling leaves. But human hands had no say and Eira found them the dearest of friends when those around her would not listen to her.

And like dear friends, they would offer her shelter, play her game, enjoy her company. Eira ducked behind a hedge, narrowly avoiding the prickling vines with the purple tipped thorns. Beautiful as they were, they held a degree of poison in their peaks that, should it come in contact with the skin, initiated fever and hallucinations so vibrant that you could hear colors and smell words. Eira knew this well, she listened to one such victim complain of it long ago. When it was more acceptable to have fun.

The vines allowed that the garden could not be breached by outsiders. Eira moved at a crouch along the perimeter, then headed toward the center where a huge stone fountain stood. She ducked behind the basin, poking her head up slightly to see the guardians drawing near but having clearly loss her scent. She decided she'd venture deeper, if only to ensue her safety from her mother's reach.

She came upon a row of flowers, her favorites. They changed color based on the weather, like the silver rings that shifted color with her mood. Right now, as Eira breathed on them, they took to her warmth and sprouted beautiful orange and red petals tinged in every shade of each color. The guardians ran passed, heading for a cropping of intricately sculpted hedges. She knew that the garden was lined with these precious petals. She couldn't possibly blow on all of them. But, perhaps a little magic could help. Eira's voice was barely above a whisper as she uttered magic laced words. She called on weather, on biology, on luck. And the flowers began to shift, slowly in a line, suggesting that something warm stood nearby. The guardians ran into each other, trying to figure out just where she was hiding amongst the gradually reacting plants. Eira breathed a sigh of relief, running her fingers through the velvet offering.

"Lovely this time of year, aren't they Lady Eira?" came a soft voice. It carried on breezes and hid in the cracks of the walls. It whispered sweet poison into her mother's ear and bit at Eira's neck.

She hated that voice.

She righted herself from where she had been crouching. Her hands found her hips easily like she had been born in that position.

"You found me, Sindri," Eira said evenly. Her steel gray eyes met his with glaring animosity. "No doubt sent by Mother." The prick.

"The Queen wishes for nothing but your wellbeing, as always," Sindri said with a slight bow. Eira brushed him off, heading pass him with not so much as a blink. But still, like a persistent breath she felt him at her back, following.

"The Lady Eira, your Highnesses." The announcer had hardly finished before Eira burst through the door. She twisted a fistful of her blue tunic in her hand, refusing to meet either of her parents' eyes. She did see her mother exhale, the wrinkles in her father's brow becoming deeper, if that was possible to watch in one sitting.

"Eira," her mother addressed her simply. And always like a princess, never like a daughter. Eira slouched on purpose. She watched it add fuel to the fire. Her mother's grey eyes, so like her own, held nothing but steel. "You were supposed to report to the throne room this morning. Apparently, the cooks had to make you a completely new breakfast when it 'fell' from the table. The grooms were quite distressed when you took our prized stallion out for a ride. The guardians almost had a fit when you took off without them—hiding in trees. Overall, it has become quite clear that you quite dislike behaving like a—oh for Valhalla's sake, stand up straight!" Her mother's voice rose and fell like the tide. Eira spied Sindri taking his place by her parents' side. She wanted to sneer at him. Her mother continued with her persistent 'what is your problem?' and Eira resisted the urge to yawn. It was the same every day. The same grievances, the same reprimands and the same punishment.

"I suppose I should go to my room now," Eira groaned, slowly moving toward the door. She pretended that it really bothered her, going to her room, being denied the light of day, not to mention dinner. It made it seem like perhaps, this time, she'd learn her lesson. Her make believe was wearing thin.

"No, not this time," her mother said quickly, with intended bite. The steel had not left her gaze. Eira stopped in her tracks.

"What?" Even Sindri looked surprised.

"I was going to wait another month, allow us to enjoy the warm season as a family, but I see I can put it off no longer," her mother explained. She rose from her seat, her guaranteed attention-grabbing stance. Eira's confusion and curiosity had it more than anything.

"You are packing your things and going to Asgard to study to be a proper ruler of your realm," her mother declared. The words refused to diffuse but seemed to dance in the air, hovering inches from her ear, forever repeating. She was going to—Asgard? To study? The words persisted in whispers within Eira's head even if the rest of the room resounded in silence. Eira crinkled her nose.

"Princesses do not crinkle their nose. I know this is a strange arrangement. Our family has participated for ages in the one. The next in line would do all that he or she could to prepare for the honor and responsibility of ruling our realm," her mother explained, her voice laced in motherly tones.

"The broader your knowledge, the greater your wisdom. That is the path to being a benevolent and beloved ruler," her father chimed in, his first input into any of their conversations.

"But I do not wish to go!" Eira protested, naturally.

"Tyr would go," her mother said solemnly. Her father's head fell.

"I am not Tyr! Nor do I want to be! How many times do I have to tell you that? You never listen to me!" Eira yelled. Her mother gave her a reprimanding look and she could see that even Sindri was not on her side. "I understand how important this is to you but I do not wish to go through with it. Please, find a more willing participant to rule your realm," Eira tried to reason. It was the same thing she said every time. And every time her parents waved it away as nerves, as a resistance to growing up. They would not hear otherwise.

Eira could not help but have her eyes alight on the curtain behind her parents' thrones. Behind the heavy royal blue satin was a family portrait. A constant reminder of what whole looks like. A reminder of what would never be again.

Eira whispered an incantation. It came easily to her lips, one she fantasized about at night. Something that no book nor instructor had taught her. Only her dreams, only her brother.

The curtain fell and her mother shrieked.

Blue eyes, a lighter version of her own stared out at her, her exact spot, pinning her there with a weight that she could never lift. Her mother and father, with help from Sindri and guardians, escaped from the heavy fabric. Her mother emerged disheveled, red, and furious.

"Eira, I will not have you spell casting for your entire stay in Asgard," her mother shouted. Eira could not tear her eyes away from the portrait. "Do you hear me?" As if to prove her point, she muttered her own incantation. Something suddenly gripped Eira's throat, and that was when the words in her head got louder. It gripped and twisted and suddenly reemerged from her mouth, carrying her ability with her. "As further punishment you will be unable to speak your true identity while you are there. You will know the life of the common, of the student," her mother said.

"You cannot do that!" Eira shouted.

"Watch your mouth," her mother huffed. "I already did. Pack you things, my daughter; you will soon learn your place." Eira wanted to say more. She wanted to scream, shout, and break things. She wanted to be five. She wanted a way out. But her mother was vacating the room and Sindri was heading toward her.

"Your mother, she—"

"Quiet," Eira cut him off.

"What will you do?" he asked, worry creasing his brow but the concern in his eyes echoed only personal problems.

"I do not have much of an option," Eira mused aloud, more for her own benefit. "Can I escape Asgard?"

"I meant once you get there," Sindri clarified. Eira blinked at him. "There are many, _temptations_, in such a grand realm. You will stay clear and do what is asked of you? That way, you can return to us as quickly as possible," Sindri said, more like a superior uncle than a betrothed. That's right, Eira was supposed to marry this self-centered, demure, suck up. The thought always made her sick. A wicked smile grace her lips, Sindri's concern bringing to mind more options than she had had time to conjure.

"Oh Sindri, how will I ever be able to resist all the men that are _better_ than you?" Eira fake pouted. She had never disguised the hatred she had for this man. His shock, which shouldn't have been a surprise to him, really, read evident on his face. He looked dejectedly into her eyes. What did he think he was, a baby? Like looking defenseless and vulnerable was going to suddenly make her love him?

"You knew about this arrangement, did you not?" Eira questioned. She had started walking, going to her room to prepare for the trip that was starting to look desirable.

"Your mother mentioned something of the sort. But I did not think it would occur so soon," he admitted. Eira chuckled. Sindri gave her a befuddled look.

"You will regret this decision. All of you."

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**If you enjoyed it, let me know! Don't be shy if you didn't. Comments and critique can only help speed things along! Thanks for reading :D**


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